Final Jury Selected as Cosby Trial Approaches

A full 12-member jury has been selected for Bill Cosby’s June 5 sexual assault trial in Norristown, Pennsylvania, reports The New York Times.

At Cosby’s team’s request, the jury was selected from the surrounding Pittsburgh area and will be bused 300 miles east of Norristown and sequestered throughout the trial. His team had been concerned that any juror from Montgomery County might be biased by the media that has surrounded the case in the area.

Though Judge Steven T. O’Neillgranted Cosby’s team’s request for a sequestered jury, they have taken issue with other areas of the jury selection, namely diversity.

“We believe it is paramount that there be a diverse jury and we believe that we cannot get a diverse jury,” Brian J. McMonagle, one of Cosby’s lawyers, said, per The Times.

One juror’s exclusion caused concern for Cosby’s team when the prosecution blocked her from the jury; Cosby’s team claimed it was a “systematic exclusion” based on race. The prosecution claimed, however, that the woman had been excluded based on her past career as a Pittsburgh detective, where she had been accused of falsifying time sheets in a criminal investigation, The Times reports. Judge O’Neill sided with the prosecution, and the woman was not included on the jury.

This is not the first time that someone close to Cosby has brought up race as an issue in the upcoming trial. Last week, radio show The Breakfast Clubplayed a recorded statement from Cosby’s daughter, Ensa, who named race as a major factor in the way the media has portrayed her father’s case.

“My father is being punished by a society that still believes black men rape white women, but passes off as ‘boys will be boys’ when white men are accused,” she said.

Cosby, in turn, responded to Ensa’s comments in an interview with XM radio host Michael Smerconish, which aired last Tuesday.

“Could be, could be,” Cosby responded when Smerconish asked him if he thought racism played a role in his trial. “I can’t say anything, but there are certain things that I look at and I apply to the situation, and there are so many tentacles, so many different—nefarious is a great word—and I just truly believe that some of it may very well be that.”’

Per The Times, the original pool of 100 jurors included 15 people of color. In the end, the prosecution was happy with the jury selection. Kevin R. Steele, Montgomery County District Attorney, said he is satisfied now that the process is complete.

“I am glad we are past this nonsense about the optics of the jury. It is a terrific jury made up of people of all demographics.”